“I love you,” he said, parroting his amja. “I love you and the trees and Daddy and Saxony and magic.”

He said Saxony like Safony and magic like magik!!

Vea kissed him on the head and took in a deep breath to steady herself and take in his scent one last time. Like grass and river salt.

“I love you to the shadow moon,” she said.

Malik’s deep brown eyes blinked up at her and his staves shone like starlight over his dark skin. She felt a pang in her heart, deep in the center, knowing that he’d never be able to use the gifts the Many Gods had given him. He’d never become Liege and never lead their Kin into a world of wonder.

She was going to steal it all from him. His future and his past. And the secret of why would live deep inside of him, in a place so hidden that even he wouldn’t be able to find it.

Vea looked to her mother. “Start the spell.”

Her mother nodded and began humming again, though this time the words were a curse and they floated through the air and into Vea’s ears like a fire stick. They burned and scratched, and when Malik started crying—which he never, ever did, even when he broke his toe or chipped his tooth chasing Saxony around the Uncharted Forest—she knew that the curse was reaching into his heart and clawing out all of those ticks and tocks.

He screamed.

The world turned to dark and smoke.

There was a loud bang and the windows of the tree house burst like tears and Vea’s mother was thrown into the forest. The fire was black, like shadows. They burned against Vea’s skin and she couldn’t move to run.

She stared at Malik, who cried, but remained untouched by the flames of his own magic. Vea tried to tell him that she loved him one last time, but she couldn’t. So instead she watched as he cried, as he blinked up at her with those dark eyes, and then finally disappeared.

Only once he was gone could Vea close her eyes.

Only once he was gone did the flames swallow her whole.

1

TAVIA

Tavia stroked her knife, waiting.

The moon was like a beam, casting far too much light on the uneven streets, forcing the shadows to retreat and leaving little space for anyone who might want to hide.

And these days, people needed all the hiding places they could get.

The street was empty, save for Tavia, and too quiet for it to be anything other than purposeful. She pulled up her hood.

This was the place.